About Me

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Welcome to my website, my name is Dr Joby Jacob. I'm a molecular biologist and a native New Yorker whose interests include science, computers, art, history, religion and politics. My previous research experience includes work on RNA pol III transcription, and the green tea component EGCG.

You might be surprised to learn that I also have ten years of experience working in Information Technology. After college I served for one year as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Los Angeles at an organization called Chrysalis. Chrysalis helps the homeless find a way off the streets by helping them find jobs. At Chrysalis, my job as an Employment Counselor involved conducting job skills classes, talking to homeless individuals one on one for intake, and working with them on a regular basis until they found regular steady employment and were able to get off of the streets. While at Chrysalis, I also became the resident computer expert. In that role, I helped to decide how a sizable donation would be spent on technology and updated a computer literacy curriculum. 

After AmeriCorps, I continued to work in IT as a consultant. I worked for the publisher of Cigar Afficionado and Wine Spectator magazines, a dot com called Funny Garbage, and an IT consulting company. Eventually, I started my own consulting company and maintained my own client base. My primary specialty was servers and email servers in particular.

I enjoyed being an IT consultant but I didn't feel intellectually stimulated and I decided to take a graduate level molecular genetics class at St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens. I found it fascinating that scientists could explain evolution in genetic terms and utilize genetics to construct a tree of life. Once I took a lab techniques class, I was hooked. I had so much fun following a series of experiments from beginning to end and experiencing the process of scientific inquiry that it led me to consider pursuing a PhD in biology. 

At St John's I founded the Graduate Students Association, an officially recognized organization which represents all graduate students from throughout the University and functions as the graduate student government.

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